


Unfinished Development

by CapriciousVanity



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, M/M, Shotgunning, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-06-30 10:59:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15750318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CapriciousVanity/pseuds/CapriciousVanity
Summary: An unifinished/abandoned relationship build of Gavin/Connor.





	Unfinished Development

**Author's Note:**

> I started this about a month ago but had since abandoned it. The intention was to have a fully fledged plot, but I had burnt myself out writing other DBH fics. This is a raw copy/paste from my word document and therefore unedited, so errors may be present. If you can sit through that, I hope you enjoy it.  
> The majority of the scenes are Gavin & Connor interactions. Though a couple scenes may be out of order, you should be able to see my intentions well enough.   
> I figured I might as well share it, it's not Terrible. Could be read as a series of drabbles.   
> Thanks.

Connor had been walking down the hall just coming out of the archives room. Gavin was headed down alongside officer Chen, who nodded at Connor in brief greeting. Connor stepped out the way of them, and Gavin paused to look at him. 

“The fuck you think you’re doing?” He asked, Tina waited a couple steps ahead of Gavin, a slight tilt of her head telling Connor she was used to Gavin’s antics. Whatever friend she saw in Detective Reed, Connor didn’t know.

“I’m staying out of your way. It’s what you’ve told me to do.”

Gavin sucked in his lips, a habit that Connor noticed when he specifically struggled with his temperament.

“Yeah. Alright. Good.” Each word was cut short as Gavin gave Connor one last look before walking with Officer Chen into the archives room.

Connor walked towards the open office but did not see Hank. Instead, he heard Hank, yelling muffled by the glass of Commissioner Fowler’s central office. Connor tilted his head and walked up the small stairway to enter.

“-a fuckin’ prick! There’s no way in hell you’re putting him on our goddamn case!” 

“ _I’m_  in command here and  _I’m_  telling you that Reed and Chen are on your fucking case! Too many of your cases have similar MOs and it’ll take too long to debrief either team to take over completely. The  _four_  of you will be working together, you got it?”

“First the fucking androids, and now fucking Reed!”

Fowler pointed at Hank, “Hey. You got used to that thing, didn’t you?” He vaguely gestured to Connor, who stood quietly by the door. “You can get used to Reed.”

“Jeffrey, you know that asshole’s looking to jeopardize my ass.”

Fowler placed both of his hands on the desk.

“Hank, listen to me. You’re file’s a goddamn novel, and  _yet_  you haven’t gotten disciplinary notices. I wonder who’s been doing that for you?”

Hank crossed his arms and sighed. He was still scrunching his nose but he nodded, understanding and somewhat grateful.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” Hank turned around, looking to Connor before leaving.

Connor nodded to Fowler, silent as he followed – he had learned to not bother Fowler with useless pleasantries.

 

 xxxxxxxx

 

 

Gavin leapt to take Connor by the arm, pulling him back up from the roof he nearly fell from. Hank helped, pulling Connor back to his feet.

“Thought you didn’t give a hit about androids, Reed,” Hank called.

Gavin clicked his tongue. “Yeah, well, I don’t exactly feel like getting billed if something happens to your precious boy toy, Hank.”

Gavin shook his head, walking ahead of them.

“Thank you, Gavin,” Connor said. Gavin turned his head slightly to look back but continued to walk on.

 

 

xxxxxxxxx

 

“Thank you,” Connor said, smiling down at Reed.

Gavin drummed his fingers then shrugged, palms open.

“For what, exactly?”

“You saved my life.”

Gavin rolled his eyes, looking away with a shake of his head.

“You don’t  _have_  a life.”

Connor still smiled sincerely, despite the biting comment.

“Still. I appreciate it. So thank you.”

He could see Gavin chew the inside of his cheek a subtle motion of the jaw.

“Yeah. Sure. Whatever. Get out of my face.”

Connor nodded, turning around to leave Gavin to his coffee. Gavin’s words had less ferocity in them, and he didn’t call him names. Connor felt that he was getting somewhere afterall.

 

xxxxxxxxxx

 

Gavin adjusted his posture on the bench for better comfort, Connor sitting but giving him just enough personal space.

Connor was beginning to read something in Gavin when he noticed the detectives face drop.

“Is.. Something wrong, Detective Reed?”

Gavin’s lips parted then closed, hands clasped together as he looked at the ground, a wrinkle in his brow.

He looked to Connor.

“What the fuck goes on in there, huh?”

Connor tilted his head.

“I don’t know what you mean. Could you elaborate?”

Gavin looked back to the ground, smiling a rictus grin before looking back to the android. He sat up straighter, his hand up, pressing his pointer finger to Connor’s forehead.

“You, uh… You’re just a bundle of code and shit, right? What the fuck even is this, huh? You pretending to be everyone’s friend because your little program tells you to. But you don’t actually feel anything. You don’t give a shit.”

Connor stared at the detective, taken a little aback.

He wasn’t sure how to approach the typically explosive Gavin Reed. Connor assumed he would prefer a direct approach.

“I… Am programmed to be receptive and interactive with humans, yes.”

“Yeah, yeah, but you don’t really  _feel_  anything, do you? This is all a fucking game for you to win, to accomplish your fucking mission.”

Gavin pushing himself from the bench, mumbling  _prick_  under his breath. Connor let him go, rubbing his hands together, wondering how else that could have gone.

 

xxxxxxxxx

 

“The fuck you’re going?” Hank asked, half dressed in a hoodie and sweats, beer in hand.

“I’m going to check in on Detective Reed,” Connor replied, fixing his tie and petting Sumo.

“Why? Bastard hates your guts. Cuts throats to get where is.”

Connor paused. He can trust Hank with his more pseudo-sentimentalism.

“I get the feeling that he is… Conflicted about our relationship. I believe I was really getting through to him. Hank, we have a bond, don’t we?”

Hank rubbed the back of his neck.

“Yeah, I suppose that’s one way to put it.”

“I thought I was close to getting a break through with Gavin, but he just… Shut me out. It was sudden, typical of his flippant behavior, but…”

Hank nodded, eyes to the floor.

“You thought you could have the same thing with that asshole, huh?”

“I thought if I could befriend him, we could come together as a better team. And, well…”

Hank huffed a half-laugh. Connor thought he could be friends with an anti-android, cutthroat prick like Gavin.

“You’re just full of hope, aren’t you,” Hank said flatly. He sighed. “Alright, but I doubt he’ll like you barging in on him at this hour.”

“He should still be awake. According to his social media records –”

“Connor! Don’t go fucking stalking people’s traffic, Jesus.”

“Sorry, Lieutenant.”

“Just… Be careful, alright? He’ll probably get all pissed off, but I don’t want to hear about him roughing you up or, God forbid, killing you, alright?”

Connor smiled.

“Of course. Don’t worry about me, Hank. I’ll be fine.”

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

Gavin, wearing jeans and a tank, leaned his arm against the frame of the door.

Connor looked down to meet his annoyed gaze.

“I came here to apologize.”

Gavin bit his lip and stepped aside, letting the android through, but he wrinkled his nose, clearly unhappy about the visit.

Gavin sat on the couch to the farthest arm, one leg up on the coffee table.

Connor scanned the room in seconds.

 _Gray carpet, nylon 6, sediment, clay, other micro-formations of tracked dirt, scorch marks._ The scorch marks were small, but still present. Connor was curious.

 _Coffee table, oak, lacquer, coffee stains, burn marks_. Burn marks?

He noted a half-full ashtray and it did click. Ember from the ash or perhaps a misstep.

Black couch, oak coffee table, plastic-and-metal black and silver television stand, an old dvd and vhs player, two gaming consoles, tangled controllers, a decorative brass vase by the tv, a plain black and white clock on the wall, otherwise plain white walls, open kitchen with bar, a matching brass vase with withered yellow, red, and white flowers -  _Chrysanthemum frutescens, Gerbera jamesonii_. Connor followed Gavin to the couch, sitting down in the center but leaving space for Gavin, which read very clearly by his slant away from Connor, leaning on the arm, did not want to be bothered too terribly.

Connor sat quiet on the couch for a long moment as Gavin lit pulled a lighter from his pocket and a pack of cigarettes, a green label on them.  Marlboro menthol 100s, cigarette lit, eyes closed, lips around the filter, he held his breath for a couple seconds before smoke left his nose. Gavin opened his eyes, looking at nothing in particular, the flashing screen of the TV still on the drama he was watching – a law drama, something Connor didn’t think he would be interested in but found himself surprised. Connor smiled.

Gavin looked at him, smoke billowing from both his mouth and nose as he spoke, “Fuck you smiling about?” The words were harsh but his tone was softer than usual. Connor thought it was nice to see Gavin in his personal environment. 

“I didn’t think you’d like to watch something like this.”

Gavin snorted. “Yeah, well, bet you don’t know me as well as you think.”

“No, but I’d like to.” Connor meant it as a friendly phrase in hopes of being invited into Gavin’s life the way he was lowly invited int Hank’s.

Gavin looked away, however, muttering a curse and taking a much longer drag of his cigarette. He closed his eyes again, setting nicotine quiet his nerves and the menthol-mint soothe him.

Connor was finally able to get a full scan of Gavin. Heart rate 89 BPM, temperature 37.1°C (98.8°F), a little warm and a little high and Connor reached out to touch Gavin’s temple. The human started, batting his hand away.

“The fuck you doing?”

“I apologize. I was going to get a more thorough check of your temperature. You seem to be developing a mild fever.”

Gavin opened his mouth but nothing came out, somewhat offended and a little flustered.

“Don’t, don’t do that. No need. I’m fine.”

“If you’re getting sick, I can recommend medicines to look into based on your symptoms. You could be experiencing an infection, if you’ve been wounded lately, judging by your heartbeat –”

“Will you fucking stop analyzing me already, you plastic piece of shit?!”

Connor reeled back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to overstep.”

“Yeah, well fuck you. Get the fuck out of my house.”

“Gavin, I –”

Gavin stood, yanking Connor to his feet, pushing him away. “Get a fucking move on!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean any offense.”

“Jesus fucking Christ. I don’t need some goddamn plastic-ass chatbot  _pretending_  to care, alright?!”

“I  _do_  care, Detective Reed. That’s what I’m here for. I thought we were becoming friends and you –”

Gavin pointed at him, the usual ferocity in his eyes.

“We’re  _not_  friends.”

Connor put pieces together in his mind. Gavin must have felt Connor, being a machine, was incapable of friendship. That their bonding was all a ruse, a lie. Gavin didn’t see him as a real person. Perhaps he wasn’t, but somehow Connor still found himself disappointed.

“I understand if you feel… Apprehensive about my being an android, Gavin. But I assure you, I came here because I was genuinely worried about you.”

Gavin threw his hands in the air.

“There you fucking go ahead. Pretending to care. You don’t. Just, fucking  _stop_ , alright?”

Connor tried to reason with Gavin as he was being pushed out, but the door shut in his face. He looked down, trying to piece together what he should do. For now, he supposed he should go back to Hank’s. He turned around slowly, somehow hoping that Gavin would come out to stop him, that it wasn’t all for naught. But Gavin didn’t. So Connor went home.

Gavin clenched his fist, head against the door, other hand flat against the frame. He took a deep breath. Why couldn’t that plastic, fake ass fucker just leave him alone?

Gavin brought his fist close to his face, biting down on his thumb, anxious and angry and agitated. He pushed himself from the door, but hissed. He looked at his other hand, the ashes fallen off his cigarette and burned him. He suckled the small red spot, headed back to his couch to flick the ashes, finish the cigarette, and light another.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

Hank had fallen asleep on the couch by now, the majority of the time Connor took was the travel by cab. He was still feeling a little hollow after his encounter. He smiled as he knelt down to pet Sumo, scratching behind his ears.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Connor thought to himself, seeing Gavin’s small smile, heartrate and temperature at a rise again. Connor noticed it was happening while he was around and he supposed he realized why.

He had a choice to make, even if he did nothing. Doing nothing was an option, but he didn’t want to do nothing. He didn’t have a protocol for this, no pre-programmed disposition on how to handle human attachment to him outside of friendliness and apologies for the loss of his own self.

He placed his hand on Gavin’s shoulder, the man tuned to look at him, cigarette in hand. Connor leaned forward, brushing their lips. Gavin pushed him.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Connor’s LED spun, his voice stuttered.

“I.. I thought…”

“What the  _fuck_  did you think that I’d be into some fucking walking plastic toy like you? Huh? That, what, you-you-you think getting in my pants is gunna make me stop hating you?”

“Gavin, I’m sorry, I misread the situation –”

“What situation, Connor?! What the fuck do you think you’re doing? Fucking, coming into my house in the middle of the night, all this fucking kiss-ass shit you keep doing. What do you  _want_?”

“I want to be friends! Or.. Or  _something_ , Gavin.”

Connor tried to reason with Gavin, who was obviously perturbed. Was it homophobia? Robophobia? Self-hate? Self-preservation? Connor couldn’t tell, but he wanted to help. To do something. To soothe.

“What do  _you_  want from  _me_ , Gavin? A friend? A smoking buddy? A machine to do as you say?”

“Don’t, don’t you ever say that to me again. You’re not a real person. You don’t matter.”

Connor was getting frustrated with this game.

“Fine. I won’t bother you anymore, Gavin. We’ll finish our business, and we’ll part ways. You can go back to pushing me around and yelling at me to get you coffee, and I can go back to  _pretending_ to acknowledge you. How’s that sound?” 

Gavin stared at him, weighing the options. Gavin, in actuality, hated it. It was easier to antagonize the android than to allow a fake program pretend it was a friend, but in the time they’ve been sharing, no, it wouldn’t be the same.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Gavin had smoked half his pack already, and cursed to himself for his lack of self-control. An e-cigarette rested by the television, charging, its cartridge sitting next to it. He stamped out the butt of his cigarette and lit yet another, taking a long drag, but released the smoke almost immediately. He was jittery, not paying any mind to even his favourite show at this hour, jimmying his leg. He hated this, hated not being able to distract himself. Not that the amount of nicotine he just inhaled helped. Well, it helped a little. But it went away too fast.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

Connor waited, Gavin holding on to his arms, eyes dragging over Connor’s pale form. He looked away, thinking over what he was going to do.

“If you need help, I have –”

“I know what to fucking do, alright?” Gavin snapped. Gavin shook his head. “Fuck. Sorry. I…”

Connor decided to help take initiative, pulling Gavin closer with a soft smile, dipping his head down to kiss Gavin’s neck. The detective tilted his head for Connor to get a better reach. He sighed, hand buried into Connor’s hair.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

“Hey, asshole,” Gavin greeted, sitting at his usual spot in the break room as Connor was getting a coffee for Hank. He nodded in Officer Chen’s direction who lifted her cup slightly to greet him back.

“Hello, Detective Reed.”

“You gunna get me a coffee, or what?”

Connor decided to play.

“You have fully functional limbs, Detective Reed. I recommend you use them.”

Gavin grinned, looking down.

“What a fuckin’ asshole,” he muttered as Connor left. The usual bite of his words was lessened, more endearing with tease than venomous with hate.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

“Smoking  _is_  bad for your health.” Connor had never seen Gavin smoke at the precinct. He wondered if this was part of his bad attitude all the time.

Gavin clicked his tongue. “Not like it’ll bother you. You don’t have any lungs.”

Connor stayed quiet, watching the cherry of the cigarette burn bright as Gavin inhaled.

Connor moved closer to Gavin who opened his eyes, holding in his smoke.

“What are you doing?” He asked, trying to hold his breath as smoke escaped.

Connor brought his face closer to Gavin’s, mouth open as Gavin couldn’t hold his breath any longer, exhaling a billow of smoke. Connor closed his own eyes, taking in the remnant whips.

Connor scanned a multitude of items that made the chemical composition of the menthol cigarette smoke, but nothing out of the ordinary. He opened his eyes to see Gavin taking another long drag, the human’s hand on Connor’s cheek, face tilting as their lips were close and parted, shotgunning smoke.

Connor breathed the smoke out of his nose, finding nothing more than what he initially scanned.

“So,” Gavin started, pulling away as he took a normal drag. “What’s the verdict?” 

Connor looked down, finding that the smoke did, in fact, affect his respiratory system. The filtration kicked in as he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

“It sticks to my bioware, but I have a filtration system to keep me maintained. I didn’t think it would affect me at all.”

“No shit,” Gavin said, a little surprised.

He turned away, somehow more conscious of his habit.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

Gavin was drumming his fingers on his leg, trying to watch his nightly drama, pack of cigarettes on the table. He eyed them for a moment before looking back to the television, taking a deep breath as if it would satisfy the craving.

“Gavin,” Connor said. “If you would like to have a cigarette, you should know I’m not in any danger.”

Gavin tilted his head before bringing a hand up to pop his neck left, then right. He didn’t say anything at first.

“I should quit, anyway,” he eventually mumbled. He brought both legs up to the table, crossing his ankles then crossing his arms, trying to keep still.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Gavin marveled at Connor and his tapered, lithe form. His calloused hands smoothed over the android’s sides – it was an oddly loving gesture for someone so rough around the edges. Connor made a subtle bow of his back, letting Gavin’s hands explore his frame.

“

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


End file.
